


Poisoned Youth

by chancellorxofxtrash



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Barians being murder-happy, Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied Sexual Content, Kogami is still the worst, M/M, Multi, Murder, Torture, Vector being Vector, Vector is Windy's Origin, Zexal cast is the same age as Vrains cast, background mentioned Jin/Lightning, cameos from Shark and Shoichi as well, implied onesided (?) Vector/Yuma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:47:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22960435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancellorxofxtrash/pseuds/chancellorxofxtrash
Summary: Rei Shingetsu did not like duelling very much.He was aware he probably was still decent at it - even though he did not play for years, and the card game went running by his side, changes and rules, and duelists having to adapt, Rei knew if he would have picked his duel disk back up, he would have managed.Thing is, he did not want to.Or: Vector is Windy's Origin. Obviously it means he won't stay away from everything. And eventually, his search leads him to one Jin Kusanagi, who may also be searching for something he cannot reach.
Relationships: Kusanagi Jin/Vector, Vector/Windy (Yu-Gi-Oh)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 28





	Poisoned Youth

**Author's Note:**

> How did this even happen? I don't know. I just had this idea and decided to push the two canons together until they worked. Which means Zexal plot happens when the Zexal cast is older - so they are more in the age-range of the Vrains cast for the sake of this AU.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Doctor! Doctor, the third one doesn’t have a heartbeat!”

There was chaos, as all the scientists gathered around the surveillance window of the third room. The doctor looked down, frowning, fingers over buttons, as the small figure was lying there, unmoving. At the door frame behind all the scientists stood another young figure, eyes opened wide, horrified.

“Ryoken, get out.”

“Bu---”

“Now!”

The doctor snapped, and the small boy obediently ran out, as the doctor pursed his lips, looking at the monitor.

The kid was flatlining.

“He needs medical attention no---”

He couldn’t finish it before the computer started beeping again.

The heartbeat started again.

The small figure moved, his entire body shivering, as he opened his bright, violet eyes, with a vacant expression.

“...doctor?”

The doctor lowered his hands.

“Baira, for his next meal, give him some extra suppliants.”

“Doctor…!”

“Keep a closer eye on him,” The doctor did not stop, just continued. “If there will be more abnormalities in his life signals, we will stop pressuring him. For now, let’s continue the experiment.”

And so they did.

~*~

Rei Shingetsu did not like duelling very much.

He was aware he probably was still decent at it - even though he did not play for years, and the card game went running by his side, changes and rules, and duelists having to adapt, Rei knew if he would have picked his duel disk back up, he would have managed.

Thing is, he did not want to.

He kept his deck with him through all these years, just in case anything would happen, but he pretended he didn’t have it. It was easier that way.

Well, as easy as living could get when literally everyone around him his age was obsessed with duelling, and events and competitions, and just generally with the card game.

Especially after Rei and his parents moved away - his parents wanting to forget everything that happened, sending Rei to a school where nobody knew. Where nobody looked at Rei with those pitying looks.

The same school as Yuma Tsukumo.

Yuma was quick to befriend Rei, and he absolutely lived for duelling, but quick to understand when Rei told him awkwardly that he had no intention of playing cards. He still often pulled Rei along with him when he went out to duel.

And lose.

Over and over again.

Every time Yuma would hit the ground and his Life Points would drop to zero, Rei would wince - but Yuma would always jump right back up, and promise he would try again.

“Hey, Yuma, can I ask you something?”

They were on their way back home when he stopped on his tracks one day, and Yuma glanced back, tilting his head with a questioning look.

“Why do you keep duelling?”

“Huh? You know why! I want to become the duel champion, duh!”

“But you…”

“Yeah, yeah I keep losing, I know that’s what you are about to say, right?” Yuma pointed at Rei dramatically. “Well one day I won’t! If I keep bringing it to ‘em, then one day, I will make it! I just have to never, ever give up. That is all.”

Rei could not find the words of what to say, and Yuma stepped forward.

“Shingetsu, did you use to duel?”

Rei’s hands gripped on his bag, and he looked down.

“...it was a long time ago.”

“Did you stop because you kept losing?”

“It isn’t like that.”

“...Shingetsu, did you like duelling?”

Did he?

Rei looked down, and tried his best to remember.

“I don’t know anymore. I think I disliked duelling for more than I liked duelling.”

“Huh…” Yuma tilted his head. “Hey, Shingetsu, if you ever want to try duelling again, you can just ask me, you know!”

Hearing Yuma’s earnest voice, Rei couldn’t help but to smile.

“Okay. Thanks, Yuma.”

~*~

Years had passed.

One time, he did ask Yuma to duel him, just to try - just as he remembered, he was doing decent, but still rusty, and when Yuma actually started to gain advantage, he…

A brush of panic rushed through his body.

He remembered the sharp pain, he remembered…

“No!”

He yelled out loud, and Yuma reeled back, eyes widening.

“Shingetsu…?”

“I can’t lose. I can’t, I can’t.”

His entire body was shaking, as he drew another card.

It was almost like his body moved on its own, turning the duel around instantly.

Yuma fell to the ground.

Rei’s knees also hit the ground, and his whole body was shaking.

“Shingetsu, are you okay? You did great! Hey, what is wrong?”

Words did not come to Rei’s lips, as his entire body was shivering, as Yuma ran over to him - and so did Kotori, worried expression on her face as well.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

It took a while for the both of them to calm Rei down, and after that, sitting on the bank of the river, he told them everything.

About that incident.

The two of them were both quiet, looking at him, and at loss for words - and Rei could not blame them.

Rei went through it, and still had no idea what to say about it.

How would one react to hearing something like that?

“So that’s why you are scared of… losing. Right?”

“Yeah. I know that out here I won’t… those things won’t happen. But my body reacts that way when I am about to lose, and I can’t even imagine what would happen if I were to lose.”

“Well at least if you would practice against Yuma, we know that wouldn’t happen,” Kotori piped up.

“Hey! That’s mean!”

Rei couldn’t help but laugh out upon hearing that - and there was a smile now on Yuma’s and Kotori’s faces as well.

Yuma reached out, taking Rei’s hand between his hands.

“If I can help you with… you know. Playing for fun again. If you want me to.”

Rei smiled, squeezing Yuma’s hands back.

“Thank you.”

~*~

Eventually, Yuma met with a being called Astral, and it changed everything.

Yuma became a stronger duelist, and managed to collect a group of friends - even Shark, as mean as he could get, ended up gravitating towards Yuma, and Rei had no idea why he had a sour taste in his mouth about that.

And there was one time, one Numbers that overtook Yuma and Astral, and before it happened, Yuma threw Hope at Rei.

“Please…”

That was Yuma’s desperate plea before he got completely taken over by Nr. 96.

Black Mist.

Rei stood there, fingers wrapped around Yuma’s pendant, and Hope in his hands.

He knew what Yuma wanted, and he gritted his teeth.

“I will defeat you. And if I win, you leave them alone.”

He won.

He won, with Yuma’s eyes trained on him, the two (well… three, alongside Astral) of them tricking Nr. 96, and Rei gave the pendant back.

And for the first time since… well, it felt like  _ forever,  _ but he smiled after duelling.

~*~

He still did not participate in the Duel Carnival, and part of him regretted it. He regretted it when he watched what happened with all their friends. Everything went horribly wrong, and Rei felt absolutely  _ useless. _

So when the Barians showed up, Rei just pocketed his duel disk with cold determination.

This time, he won’t be useless.

This time, he will help.

Which, predictably was exactly the point where things turned upside down.

He was at home, alone, when his duel disk lit up - and there was a green figure, and glowing, purple eyes looking at him.

Rei looked back at him.

The  _ thing  _ stared at him.

“Hello there! It’s been a long time we met!”

Rei screamed, pushing himself away from his desk, landing on the ground with a loud thud.

Probably would have alerted his parents.

(If his parents would have been home. Or anything.)

“Hey now! Don’t overreact! I’m here to give answers to all your questions! I mean I assume you have questions. Most people would have questions in your situation.”

“Wh--- what do you mean?”

“Ten years ago. The incident. You surely have questions, right?”

Ten years.

The incident.

He listened.

He listened to the… Wind Ignis. That’s what he called himself. The Wind Ignis.

Anyway he listened to his words. How he was made from Rei, learning from him. How there were five other ones, and how Playmaker, the hero of Link VRAINS was one of the other victims of the Lost Incident.

“So… what do you want from me?”

“You know, you know. Playmaker and the Dark Ignis seem to be working together amazingly! He is his Origin, you know. The Dark Ignis was born from Playmaker the same way I was born from you. And you have seen what great things can he do, right? Do you duel? You have your duel disk, I’m sure you duel.”

“Kind of. Started recently again,” Rei shook his head, bewildered. “I don’t… I never even went into Link VRAINS.”

They all knew what it was, but honestly, the equipment to enter it was outside of what most of them could pay for. Besides, most of them had enough things to pay attention to instead, even when it was getting more and more widespread. He knew Kaito hunted for Numbers in there back then, but the Barians did not seem to be interested in the virtual world.

Also, Den City was far from Heartland City.

“Well, first time for everything, right? I’m sure we could help each other.”

Help each other.

Rei rubbed his wrist.

“Listen, I… I think after what you told me, that you are hunted and all… the last you need is getting swept up in my own situation. Also, even for me… I think that getting swept up in your mess is also the last thing I need.”

“Hmmmmm…” The Wind Ignis tilted his head. “So you say we sort out our own messes first?”

Rei smiled.

“I think that’s for the best. And then later we can… figure out something.”

“Mmmmkay. Catch ya later, then!”

And then he was gone.

Rei let out the breath he did not even realise he was holding, and he eased his clenched fist.

He felt his own nails digging into his palm.

~*~

Rei did not tell Yuma about this meeting. He pushed it out of his mind, actually.

Until…

Until.

He said goodbye to Yuma and the others already, and then…

There was no braking tyres.

Just a loud sound, and he…

He just looked at the car’s headlights, and he could not move.

_ It would be troublesome for you to die. Time for you to remember, then. _

He had no idea what that sound was in his head, but his legs moved without thinking.

The car smashed into the wall.

Fire.

Smoke.

Screaming.

And he was on the fire ladder above, and he just kept hurrying up, before anyone would think to look upwards.

(Who would look  _ up,  _ looking for a kid who was in front of a car a few seconds ago?)

He reached the roof quickly, and stopped there, trying to catch his breath.

Rei…

No.

No.

Vector.

Vector was standing on the top of the roof, trying to catch up with his memories.

That voice in his head - the same when---

Back when---

Oh.

~*~

_ Nasch’s hand gripped onto Vector’s arm before he jumped. His claws digging into Vector’s skin, his iron grip not letting him go, as he jumped after Merag, and his strength, his weight dragged the other emperor down after himself. _

_ “You are going down with us.” _

_ Nasch’s voice was vicious, and Vector desperately tried to keep himself steady, but Nasch only let him go when they were both falling. _

_ Gravity’s pull was too strong over Vector as well - he tried to move his wings, to fly out, but to no avail. He did not have the strength to fight against his own creation. _

_ He could not see Nasch and Merag anymore, he just fell - and then he heard a voice. _

_ “And what should I do with you?” _

_ Vector twisted around in the air, trying to locate the source of the voice. _

_ “You are still a Barian Emperor, so I should probably save you for the future.” _

_ “Save me?” _

_ “You will live as a human. Just like Nasch and Merag will. Until the time will arrive for your return.” _

_ “...human? You want to make me a human?!” _

_ “Not just a human,” The voice was sharp. “You also won’t remember your true identity. But I think I will use this opportunity to teach you a lesson.” _

_ “And who are you to teach  _ **_me_ ** _ a lesson?” _

_ “I am someone who served Nasch in life as in death. So this, Vector… this is your punishment.” _

~*~

Vector laughed out loud, throwing his head back.

“Punishment, huh? And yet, you could not let me die, huh? You said I am still needed, huh?”

He felt his own grin grow on his face, running his fingers through his hair.

The memories, all of them, they kept rushing through his mind.

Merag, Nasch, that guardian of the Abyss.

Nasch and Merag…

“If you put me here, you had to put them in the human world as well, right?” Vector smirked, looking upwards. There was still no answer, not like that bothered him. “Alright, then. Let’s play a little hide and seek. Besides Durbe, Mizael and the others must miss me by now. I am sure they will be so, so happy to see me! Well, at the very least they will surely be surprised by my return.”

He spun on his heels, laughing a bit, looking down at the wreckage.

“But first… Rei Shingetsu might have a little bit more of a use for me.”

~*~

It was laughably easy to play things to his whims, and brush aside everything that happened to him as Rei Shingetsu - the one thing he did was absentmindedly checking the news, and they stated the car’s AI probably malfunctioned.

Malfunctioned…

Well.

Vector was not stupid.

But first things first.

He will settle things with Nasch and that troublesome guardian of his first.

And then later he will deal with the Ignis.

But first, Yuma Tsukumo. Yuma Tsukumo, who would look at Vector with a wide and earnest expression, always happy to practice duelling with him by this point. Vector was vaguely aware that Rei Shingetsu was very, very fond of Yuma Tsukumo.

But thankfully, Vector was not Rei Shingetsu.

For all intents and purposes, Rei Shingetsu died when that car sped towards them.

That’s all it was.

But if that was all it was, then why was he shivering at Sargasso?

He was actually fine for most of it. Stringing Yuma around, laughing, watching him and Astral fall apart - everything went how he wanted it to go.

And then - and then it didn’t.

They managed to defuse from their corrupted Zexal form, and fused again, new and improved, and…

And Vector felt his heart speed up.

_ I’m gonna lose, I’m gonna lose, ImgonnaloseImgonnalose _

“You… you two, how.. it…”

He wanted to scream, yell, curse them out, but his eyes just widened, his body not moving. His brain in overdrive, running over his options, but he  _ did not have any. _

And on Zexal’s face there was suddenly a look of  _ understanding  _ and the voice that spoke was obviously Yuma’s.

“Shingetsu…”

“No!” Vector shrieked, pointing at Yuma, ignoring how his finger was shaking. “Rei Shingetsu is dead. He is just a dead kid whose body I took over. Do you understand? There is no Rei Shingetsu. There’s only me now! Do you still not understand?”

Zexal spoke again but this time… this time it was Astral’s voice.

“Then why are you afraid of losing?”

“You have no idea what are you talking about. Besides, did I really lose? Look at you two! Even if you fused again, you did admit your trust is broken.”

“That is something that can be worked on,” It was impossible to tell apart their voices now. “But if you are not afraid of losing, there is no point in dragging it out, isn’t it? Hope Ray Victory - attack!”

Vector screamed.

~*~

“Are you really afraid of losing?”

Mizael’s voice was unbearably condescending, and Vector moved quickly, grabbing Mizael by the throat. Mizael’s hand gripped onto his arm, claws digging into each other’s skin.

“Shut the hell up,” Vector hissed. “Let me tell you, once I get my hand on the one who put me into that  _ human boy  _ in the first place…”

“Speaking of which,” Durbe interjected, eyes focused on Vector, moving to be on Mizael’s side, ready to pounce at the nearest opportunity. “How did you end up in that situation, Vector?”

Now, he couldn’t exactly tell that to  _ Durbe  _ now, could he?

At least - not now.

So he just let Mizael go, and snorted, moving away.

“Long story, and we have more pressing matters to attend to - don’t we?”

He could tell they were still suspicious, but Durbe was always on edge, and Mizael’s temper was worse than Nasch’s on a bad day, so it was going to be fine.

He just had to keep going for a while.

They needed all the available Barian Emperors after all - so they were willing to put up with Vector.

Which was all that Vector needed.

~*~

Vector was doing great, pushing all the thoughts out of his head about Rei Shingetsu, and everything that happened with him. Honestly, between Nr 96 being a nuisance (and he was absolutely a nuisance over Vector’s identity), and everything about the ancient ruins…

Vector really, really started to hate the things his mind was throwing at him. Whatever was the issue with the ruins, he decided to push it out of his mind.

Of course, and then Nasch and Merag were back - but they somehow did not seem to remember.

(Even though apparently they were all close to each other for years and Vector would have found it hilarious if he wouldn’t have wanted to scream and bang his own head against a wall. Or Nasch’s. Probably Nasch’s.)

So that was a thing.

He turned away to walk off, when…

A sharp pain.

A sharp pain ran through his entire body, as if something pierced his heart, and he clutched his chest, eyes widening.

Something visceral, something horrifying shooting through his body, a horrifying sense of  _ loss,  _ like something… something.

No.

He knew exactly what happened.

Deep inside, he knew exactly what happened.

He stood there, frozen, clutching his heart, unable to move and.

“Vector?”

It was Merag’s voice, and he just shook himself, turning back around.

“It’s nothing,” Vector’s voice was not hoarse. Not at all. Absolutely not. “Let’s do this.”

It was all nothing.

~*~

Of course, despite so many things had happened, everything was over pretty damn quickly after that, and despite everything Yuma still called him  _ Shingetsu,  _ and did not let go of his hand.

So Vector let him go instead.

~*~

After everything was said and done, and all of them had returned, Vector thought the emptiness would go away. That nagging feeling at the back of his mind, but it did not.

It was like someone ripped off one of his wings (which was stupid, he had them both still), something fundamentally broken and missing.

Of course it was Yuma who made them all sit down and deal with it.

As in, he literally dragged Vector and Nasch into one room and made them sit down.

(With Merag, it was always somewhat easier. Merag just decked him in the face and declared themselves even. She claimed that because Vector mostly was pissed at Nasch as well and not her, she won’t pay him any attention. She claimed Vector was not worth it. Which, wow, rude.)

“I suppose there is still some bad blood here. Seeing you killed each other, and all.”

“He started it,” Nasch said immediately, and Vector snorted.

“I think you started it with being so damn annoying.”

“Why you---”

“Stop!” Yuma raised his hands. “We are here to talk it out. So you killed each other. That's not good, I agree. But I think you should both know what happened to you after.”

Nasch looked confused, and Vector just narrowed his eyes.

“I do not like where you are going with this, Yuma. So maybe stop going anywhere with this.”

“You are still affected, Shingetsu.”

“I am not!”

“I saw how you react every time you are about to lose. At Sargasso, and when you last duelled Shark…”

“Since when you are afraid of losing, Vector?” Nasch asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Shut your face, Nasch.”

“No, really. You were always a petulant little shit--”

“Why, thank you.”

“--but you never reacted like that to losing before.”

Vector pursed his lips and looked upwards, and Yuma took a deep breath.

“Shark, you do remember like… the original Ryouga’s memories too, right? So you basically have two sets of memories. As Nasch and as Ryouga Kamishiro.”

“...yeah? So I suppose he is the same, with whoever Rei Shingetsu actually was.”

“Wow, genius,” Vector muttered. “How long did it take for you to figure that out?”

“It didn’t take long,” Nasch snapped at him. “I don’t see the point of this, is all.”

“Oh come on, Nasch, use your brain,” Vector glared at Nasch. “Do you seriously think your guardian didn’t decide to completely screw me over when he pushed me into the body of a dead kid?”

Silence, and Vector just turned back towards the ceiling, glaring up there stubbornly.

“We could… try to figure out why did that happen to you.”

“Did not happen to me.”

“Kind of did, though. Didn’t it? Did he die before or after that?”

“...during.”

“So it  _ did  _ happen to you!”

Yuma was flailing, and Nasch took a deep sigh.

“Will you two explain to me what is going on?”

“No,” Vector said stubbornly. “And that is my answer to you too, Yuma. I know why it happened so you can stop poking at it.”

“What?”

So Vector told them about the Wind Ignis’ arrival. What happened when he got his memories back.

And the sense of loss he felt.

“So you think he is… dead?”

“Yeah,” Vector nodded. “Can’t explain it, I just know it. He was created from me, after all. I just… know that he is gone.”

“Well… there might me more answers, though,” Yuma tilted his head. “You told me there were five others. Maybe with them at least?”

Five others.

And he knew exactly who was one of them.

~*~

Finding Playmaker was not an easy task. Obviously, someone like him had to hide his own tracks fairly well.

And getting Kaito Tenjo and V to help out was not the easiest either - thankfully neither of them could really say no to the secret weapon known as  _ Yuma Tsukumo’s begging eyes. _

Nobody was immune to that. Absolutely nobody.

(Which did include Vector himself. Annoyingly.)

“Why do you even want to find Playmaker?”

“Long story,” Vector said, putting his hands into his pockets, swinging on a chair. “Why? Too big of a task?”

“Are you trying to goad me into doing it?”

Vector grinned up at Kaito, tilting his head.

“Is it working?”

“No. So, why?”

“He might know some information that… well. Connects to my past. And Rei Shingetsu’s. And we are basically one and the same at this point. Or so Yuma claims. It is a complicated situation.”

Kaito looked at him wordlessly, before turning back to the screen.

“They kept his tracks very well-hidden. Playmaker and whoever he always worked with, they had to hide from many people after all. The best we can do is to narrow it down.”

“Huh,” Orbital 7 peeped up. “This is the first time we can’t really give a definitive answer. Playmaker is annoyingly good at hiding.”

“Well, narrowing it down is better than nothing,” Vector kicked himself to his feet.

Most of his logins were from around the central area in Den City.

Densely populated area.

Better than nothing.

~*~

He went to Den City alone - Yuma wanted to come along, but…

Well.

Vector wanted to figure this out on his own.

This annoying absence was tugging at the back of his brain still, not letting go, so he will going to have to figure out a way to deal with it, and he had the feeling he will have an easier job without Yuma also being there.

Not to mention Den City and Link VRAINS were always a hotspot for trouble, and knowing Yuma’s penchant for getting from one disaster to another…

Yeah.

Yuma didn’t need to get swept up in this.

This was Vector’s mystery to solve.

Yuma still made him promise he will call if he will need help. And maybe he will need help. But at first this was something he… well.

He did not want anyone else to see him around these people.

(Every time he was about to lose his body freaked out. Who knows how will he react to other things happening, whether he will want to or not. And the last thing he wanted was an audience if something were to happen.)

In the center of Den City was a huge plaza.

It was as good as a starting place as any.

~*~

Kaito gave him a program to run closer to Den City which would help him narrow it down even more - apparently being a Numbers Hunter did lead him to Link VRAINS previously, which meant that he had to circumvent SOL’s security a lot, had to figure out ways to track people that not even SOL had.

So thanks to that, Vector got some more data. The program just had to analyze it, so he stayed nearby mostly, waiting for the programs to run, and analyze everything it gathered.

Thankfully there was a hot dog truck that sold good food and quite good coffee as well. After a few days, they did ask for his name and he decided to call himself Rei once again.

Worked as well as anything else.

The owners were a pair of brothers - the older polite and usually inside the truck, while the younger closer to Vector’s age, usually moving in and out, serving people.

Jin Kusanagi was his name, and he was perfectly nice and sociable, if utterly unremarkable.

Apart from the odd scars on his face - it was like lightning marks ran down from his left temple, down on the side of his face, disappearing under his shirt. Obviously old, faded scars, but still noticeable.

“You come here a lot. Looking for something?”

Jin asked him one day, and Vector shrugged.

“Answers, I guess,” He replied, and Jin laughed a little.

“A lot of people keep looking for that. Have you found anything yet?”

Vector tapped his phone.

“Not yet. Working on it, though.”

“Well, good luck with that. Tell me if I can help with anything!”

“Sure, sure,” Vector waved him off, turning back to his phone, seeing as Yuma sent him a barrage of texts asking him if he was doing okay.

Jin Kusanagi was nice, but perfectly boring, and not worth paying attention to.

Well.

That is what he thought anyway.

Until the next day, when Jin’s brother was not at the truck, and the program finished running, and he got back some interesting results.

Vector let out a low whistle, and Jin walked by him.

“Found what you were looking for?”

“Sure did. Can you tell me why did Playmaker use this truck as most of his login points?”

The change was immediate.

Jin threw himself down to the other side of the table Vector was sitting at, the smile gone from his face, and his eyes having a dangerous glint in them.

“Knew it. Knew that you were the one who was prying on our security.”

Vector grinned, leaning forward.

“Sure was. So tell me, are you Playmaker?”

Jin laughed - an almost manic laugh, throwing his head back, before looking back, his grin matching Vector’s.

“Nope. Sorry about that. Playmaker left town months ago. Why are you looking for him anyway?”

“Let’s just say, we probably have some shared experiences.”

There was confusion on Jin’s face for a few moments, before his eyes widened.

“Holy shit. We thought you were dead.”

“Oh?”

“You are Windy’s origin, aren’t you?”

Windy.

“That’s not what he called himself when we met, but sure, let’s go with that. Let me guess that nice scar on your face… electric shocks, I gather?”

Jin raised a hand, touching his temple absentmindedly, tilting his head.

“Yup. But you were the only one unaccounted for. We just thought he killed you.”

“He sure did try. But I am not easy to kill. So--”

Jin suddenly straightened up, raising a hand, looking into the distance, alarmed.

“My brother is about to come back,” He said quickly. “Shut up and pretend you don’t know shit. Don’t mention Playmaker or the Ignis to him. Come back later tonight. Then we will talk.”

“Don’t tell me your brother doesn’t know anything because I’m not buying it.”

“He knows more and less than I do simultaneously,” Jin said in a dry voice. “If you want answers, behave, and shut your mouth. Otherwise all this staking out was for nothing.”

Vector grinned again, standing up, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Don’t think I can’t get what I want. Do not underestimate me.”

Jin’s eyes narrowed.

“I think if you had wanted to cause trouble, you already would have.”

“Oh it’s never too late for me to cause problems.”

“Maybe. But I also think you want answers first and foremost. So that’s why you are going to behave, I think.”

Vector gritted his teeth, but just tilted his head forward.

“Maybe. I hope your answers will be worth it.”

~*~

He went back later that night, and Jin Kusanagi was leaning by the truck, only pushing himself away and opening the back, when he saw Vector arrive, and Vector just climbed inside after him.

Inside it definitely did not look like a hot dog truck. At all.

It was obviously the headquarters of Playmaker’s operations.

“So you said you are not Playmaker.”

“Obviously,” Jin said, kicking himself back to a chair, while Vector also sat down. “My brother worked with him for a long time though. Uncovering the truth behind the Lost Incident, hunting the Knights of Hanoi, all of that.”

“Where is he now?”

“Nobody knows,” Jin shrugged. “He disappeared. If you ask me, he is looking for a way for the Ignis to come back.”

Vector raised his eyebrows.

“All of them?”

“Probably,” Jin hesitated. “Not sure about mine.”

“So he will just bring back the one who tried to kill me?”

“Ah. That. He was not himself.”

“What?”

Jin leaned forward.

“My understanding is that Windy had no hostility towards humanity before another Ignis reprogrammed him. Probably that’s when he tried to kill you.”

Reprogramming.

_ Your father’s blood runs through your veins as well. _

He mentally shook himself, and looked into Jin’s eyes.

“You said you are not sure Playmaker would make your Ignis come back. Why not?”

“Because he turned against humanity. He was the one who reprogrammed Windy as well.”

“Oh?”

“But even if he doesn’t, I will find a way.”

Vector raised his eyebrows, leaning forward.

“Will you, now?”

“Don’t talk about things you have no idea about,” Jin hissed. “That little gremlin crawled out of my brain. I am the reason he even existed, so I should be the one who decides whether he gets to live or not.”

“What does your brother say to that? I figure there is a reason we have to talk about this alone, isn’t there? I bet he wouldn’t approve.”

Jin pulled a face.

“He would prefer me to not know anything. And if that gives him some peace believing that, I will let him. Not that hard, seeing as I don’t actually  _ remember  _ anything.”

“...huh?”

And Jin told him about his Ignis. His final grasp at survival, taking some of Jin’s data, to survive.

And that storing Jin’s memories of the incident.

And here Vector thought only Heartland City was wild.

“So I take it your brother wanted to keep you in the dark… how did you find out the details then?”

Hearing his question, the grin was back on Jin’s face.

“Revolver.”

“...you mean one of the Knights of Hanoi?”

“Yup. Turns out he was just a kid during the Incident, but the son of the main researcher. You can guess he is swimming in guilt - it was almost too easy to get answers out of him.”

Vector leaned even closer, now their faces almost touching, and he also grinned.

“Could you introduce me to him?”

There was a wicked glint in Jin’s eyes.

“Ever been to Link VRAINS?”

“Nope.”

“Then you should design an avatar for yourself.”

~*~

He named himself Phecda, and Jin raised his eyebrows high upon hearing it.

“And what the hell does that mean?”

Vector shrugged.

“It is one of the stars of the Big Dipper. Says you, by the way - Lightbringer. I don’t think I need to ask which Ignis crawled out of your brain.”

“Why would you ask, if you know the answer?”

Jin’s avatar had longer hair, white and purple mixed together, in a messy ponytail, and his outfit was all golden and shiny as well.

“And what does your brother say to your outfit?”

Jin pulled a face as an answer - Vector noticed he did that a  _ lot,  _ whenever his brother was mentioned, which was interesting.

“Yeah, well. He doesn’t know I come into Link VRAINS sometimes. So shut your mouth about it,  _ Phecda.  _ Also who the hell told you having wings is cool?”

Vector grinned, spreading his wings - he indeed had wings, but decided to go for a green-grey outfit with armor-like aesthetics. And spikes. The spikes were important.

“I don’t know what you mean. I have wings in my real form as well.”

Jin rolled his eyes.

“Sure you do. You look like an asshole villain.”

“Not even the most threatening look I ever had. Honey, you should have seen me in a real armor.”

“Suuure. Anyway, let’s look for Revolver.”

Obviously Jin had experience tracking Revolver down - and his eyes were instantly alarmed when he looked at Vector. Oh, he knew Revolver’s type. The ice cold jerk keeping people at arm’s length.

Vector wondered how long would it take for them to shake him up.

“And you are..?”

“Hello there. People call me Phecda here. Or well, will. This is actually my first time in Link VRAINS. But you probably heard of me by the name of Rei Shingetsu.”

The effect was immediate as Revolver recoiled, and Vector felt delighted by the fact that the answer to his earlier question was  _ it really doesn’t take long to shake Revolver up. _

“I figure we have a lot to catch up on, don’t you think?”

Revolver was silent for a few moments before nodding.

“Yes. Yes, we do.”

~*~

Jin was absolutely correct that Revolver was easy to make talk. That guy was probably twelve guilt complexes masquerading as a decent duelist in a trenchcoat and a stupid mask, and Vector barely even had to ask anything, and he would tell him everything about the Incident, how it worked. What happened with Windy.

“So. You okay?”

They were already out of the digital world when Jin asked that from him, and Vector shrugged a little.

“Not the first revelation I had this year. Not even the wildest.”

“I don’t even know what your life is like.”

“Awww. I could tell you bedtime stories. But your brother might murder me.”

“I don’t think you would tell the truth.”

“You wound me. Most people decide not to trust me  _ after  _ getting to know me better.”

“I’m a good judge of character.”

“And yet, you want Lightning to come back.”

Jin’s grin disappeared from his face, and tilted his head to the side.

“You know why. You can probably feel why.”

Now that made the grin disappear from Vector’s face as well.

“Out of any of us, you have to understand it the most,” Jin continued. “Windy tried to kill you, yet you are here. I don’t even remember meeting Lightning, and yet we both feel this. Like we lost something we didn’t even know we had.”

Vector hated that Jin was right.

Vector had been alive for so, so long - well, in varying states of alive and dead. Point is, he had been around for a long, long time and lost a lot of things, destroyed and thrown away even more.

This whole thing shouldn’t have felt the way it did.

(Yuma would have said it made sense. Yuma did mention at one point he is basically a part of Astral as well, and how he felt when Astral was forced back to the Astral world. Yuma did offer him to talk about it but Vector wasn’t the best at talking about things like this.)

It was like constantly feeling like having lost something. Like wanting to turn back around, to tell something to someone, and yet having no one there. It was the feeling of having forgotten something with no way to remember.

Vector did not like feeling like that.

~*~

“So you are staying?”

“Yeah, a bit longer.”

“Found out anything?”

“You could say that, yeah.”

“I’m glad! You deserve answers, Shingetsu.”

Vector smiled a bit to himself, listening to Yuma rambling on and on through the call about whatever shenanigans they got into. Truthfully, he kind of tuned his words out, mostly listening to his voice.

After he hung up, he realised Jin was close, looking at him, with head tilted.

“Wow you were blissed the hell out. You have a crush.”

“Shut up,” Vector said, putting his D-glazer away. “I owe him.”

“Maybe. You were still blissed out.”

“You just say that because you don’t have to listen to him prattle on nonsense constantly. You just tune it out after a while.”

Jin obviously didn’t completely believe Vector’s words, but did that really matter? Not like Jin knew Yuma either way.

Point is, Playmaker was obviously off wherever he was, looking for the Ignis to come back - it seemed like a mostly unspoken agreement between everyone. Jin’s brother probably had no idea about where he was, Jin was sure of it. If Revolver knew, Playmaker had a better hold on his guilt complexes than Jin and Vector did, so he was not telling.

So they were waiting.

And roaming Link VRAINS and duelling.

Mostly down in the more hidden parts, constantly moving, trying not to make a name for themselves, as Jin tried to keep his brother in the dark as long as possible for some reason.

And they were duelling whoever was willing.

Jin was a vicious duelist, not letting his opponents breathe, often not even letting them make a single move, and he was laughing a lot.

Vector… Vector liked to play. He enjoyed making them believe they had a chance, and he especially enjoyed speed duels, the way the wind felt, the way he could spread his wings to control his D-board, even though Jin called him a showoff for it.

After winning one night, Vector jumped off, landing elegantly, right next to Jin, who also won, with a laughter on his lips - and Jin just turned around quickly, grabbing Vector, and pressing their lips together.

His kiss was just as vicious as the way he duelled, and definitely did not complain when Vector bit his lower lip during the kiss. On the contrary, his hands just gripped into Vector even stronger.

~*~

“I’m happy that Jin made a new friend, you know.”

Shoichi Kusanagi said that one day, when Vector was sitting at the hot dog truck as usual, with a friendly smile on his face.

“Yes, me too. Did not really expect to befriend anyone here.”

“You arrived so suddenly here, out from nothing. It’s almost odd.”

There was a hint of suspicion behind Shoichi’s voice, and Vector just chuckled.

“Ya got me. I will tell you my secret. I am an alien.”

Jin kicked him under the table, and Vector laughed out loud. Even Kusanagi joined in, seemingly forgetting his own suspicions.

At least just a bit.

Of course not everything would last like this forever.

~*~

The new challenger was actually… well, a challenge. The kind of challenge that slowly, but surely started to put Vector on an edge.

He was at a disadvantage.

Jin actually floated up close to him, his face unusually serious, eyes focused - something about this opponent sent shivers down Vector’s spine.

Then…

There was a glitch in Vector’s extra deck, and he went to check and…

…

Number 65.

Judge Buster.

How could a Number be here?

How could… his Number be here?

...well then.

“Okay then. Let’s play a little, shall we?”

As soon as the monster appeared, his opponent recoiled.

“...you! You… you are a…”

“Ah, so you recognize what this is. And you know what the deal is. Numbers can’t be destroyed only by other Numbers. So unless you have one…”

The opponent’s expression told Vector everything he needed to know.

And honestly, seeing that expression made Vector own grin return to his face.

“Well then. Let’s finish this then, shall we?”

His opponent landed heavily on the ground, and Vector landed gracefully on his feet, walking towards.

“A Barian…” His opponent hissed. “Nobody told me a Barian was part of the Incident…”

“Well, life is full of surprises. But I would like to know who did you get your information from.”

His opponent opened his mouth - before his entire body glitched out and he disappeared.

“Oh. His higher ups probably didn’t want him to talk.”

“Probably,” Jin’s voice was dry behind his back. “I would like you to talk to  _ me  _ about what just happened, on the other hand.”

Vector tilted his head backwards, so he could look at Jin’s annoyed expression, and he grinned.

“Oh, come on. Didn’t I tell your brother I’m an alien?”

“Fuck off.”

“You wanted the answer.”

“If you think that is an answer I will be anywhere near content with, you severely misjudged me.”

“Nah, I know you won’t be,” Vector shrugged. “Not gonna tell you anything more, though. At least not in here.”

~*~

They logged out.

Vector rented a small, cheap hotel room he could sleep in, since he was in Den City, and he led Jin there.

“So. Alien.”

“If you want to be technical, more like an energy-being from another dimension,” Vector shrugged. “But sure. We can go with alien.”

“That guy called you a Barian.”

“Yup.”

“If you aren’t human how come the Hanoi didn’t notice it?”

Vector pulled a face, and leaned to the wall, giving Jin a condensed version of what happened - the fact that he died. How he was placed into a dead human boy’s body without his own memories.

And how that dead little boy was Rei Shingetsu, whose heart couldn’t handle the Lost Incident.

Jin was silent for a few moments.

“So the real Rei is dead.”

Vector shrugged.

“You could say that. I do have his memories, though so Yuma says as long as I have his memories, that’s how Rei keeps on living. I’m not sure he would be happy with  _ me,  _ but I am who I am.”

“Who  _ are  _ you?”

“My name is Vector. I am one of the seven Barian Emperors. And I am also one of the people who were involved in the Incident. Origin of the Wind Ignis, apparently. Phecda. All of that, still me. What can I say, I am a complex individual.”

Jin was silent for a few moments, before crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Once you said your real form has wings.”

“Yup. Sure does.”

“Prove it.”

Vector grinned, and then he raised his hand, and the light from his hand enveloped the room for a few moments - and when it disappeared, Vector was standing in front of Jin in his real form.

He spread his arms, squinting his eyes with a grin-like expression.

“Ta-daaa! What do you think? Do you like it?”

Jin lunged forward, taking Vector’s face between his hands, yanking him close - pressing his lips against Vector’s skin furiously, where his mouth should have been.

For a few moments, Vector was actually caught off-guard, and Jin took advantage of that, moving his lips to Vector’s jawline, to his neck, biting on Vector’s skin. Slowly Vector’s mind caught up with what was happening, and he grabbed onto Jin, pulling him closer, and judging from the little sound Jin gave out, he really did not mind the way Vector’s claws might have grabbed him just a little bit painfully.

“Oh? I take it that you like it very much~”

“Shut your mouth.”

“I do not  _ have  _ a mouth~”

“And you still don’t shut up,” Jin hissed, biting down on Vector’s ear, making him let out a little squeak. “Would be impressive, if it wouldn’t be annoying.”

“You like that too~”

Jin let out a coarse laugh, throwing his head back a bit, and then looked into Vector’s eyes, with a wild look in his eyes.

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

~*~

Revolver messaged Vector one day, wanting to meet with him in person.

And in the real world.

That was new.

For some reason, he invited Vector to the docks, and he just stood there, waiting, closing his eyes - feeling the wind coming in from across the sea.

“Rei Shingetsu.”

He opened his eyes, turning towards the voice - and on the deck of a goddamn  _ yacht,  _ there stood a guy with white hair and pale blue eyes fixed on Vector. He could see echoes of Revolver on his face, the same way Lightbringer and Jin resembled each other, if you knew what to look for.

“Did you call me here to show off your yacht?”

Revolver turned away, and he did an inviting gesture.

“Come on. I need to show you something.”

The yacht turned out to be the current headquarters of the Knights of Hanoi, full of hi-tech equipment, and a female android with a polite smile obviously leading most of it.

“I thought you guys don’t like AIs. I thought that was the whole conflict between Playmaker’s faction and you.”

Revolver was quiet, as he led Vector through the corridors, leading him into one of the cabins. And no, he indeed did not answer.

How rude.

Revolver allowed Vector into one of the cabins, then closed the door behind him, and without a word, grabbed something from a desk, handing it over.

A duel disk.

Vector took it, and raised his eyebrows at Revolver.

“Are you giving me a gift? It isn’t my birthday, Revolver.”

Revolver rolled his eyes.

“Stop hiding. Show yourself already.”

The duel disk lit up, and a familiar figure appeared.

A familiar, green figure, but now purple lines ran around his body, some bandages wrapped around it - and an eyepatch.

“...hey there. Long time no see, huh? You started to dress edgier! Look edgier too. What happened with you?”

“Oh hello. Someone tried to hit me with a car.”

Windy shivered and Vector laughed a little.

“Just kidding. Sort of. It did help me out in the long run, so maybe I should thank you.”

“Well I would say you are welcome but I didn’t exactly want to do it. You look very much in one piece though.”

“The car never hit me.”

“Huh?”

“Maybe I will tell you sometime,” Vector said cheerfully, turning his attention back to Revolver. “I would like to hear some explanation first, though.”

“Playmaker had been busy, and I had been helping him out. Most of the other Ignis are also back.”

Weird.

They should have heard of the others being back already.

Unless…

Oh.

Of course.

“Lightning is the one who isn’t back. So you don’t want Jin to know about the others being back, because you know his opinion about wanting Lightning back. And you don’t want to bring him back.”

Revolver crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Hardly my decision to make. But Jin Kusanagi might be willing to forgive but he is not the only one the Light Ignis had hurt. Not only his decision to make either.”

“Keeping him out of it is kind of underhanded as well.”

“He won’t be kept out of it,” Revolver said in a dry tone. “We are simply asking everyone else first. And if we break it down, he is the one responsible for your Ignis attacking you.”

“As I said, I am not really stuck up about it.”

He glanced down at Windy, who was looking up at him, head tilted.

“You definitely aren’t acting the way you did when we last met. You were a lot more…”

“Pathetic?”

“Jumpy was the word I wanted to use,” Windy hummed. “Also, timid. Are you sure the car didn’t hit you? You were certainly in the way.”

“Positive. Trust me. I would have noticed if it would have hit me. Not for lack of trying, though. A+ for effort. Would it have been anyone else, would have killed me, probably. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on who you ask, it  _ was  _ me.”

“So is that what you say? About the Light Ignis?” Revolver interrupted them, trying to steer the conversation back to his main question.

Vector looked down at Windy, who started to avoid his eyes.

“What do you think? I’m not stuck up about the whole attempted murder thing - but he messed with your head.”

“You just said you aren’t stuck up about that.”

“I know what that is like,” Vector said sharply. “And I, for one, tried to kill the ones who did that to me. So what do you think? Do you want Lightning back? And if yes, what for? So you can kill him again or give him a second chance?”

Windy looked up at Vector finally, tilting his head.

“So you think we should bring him back so I can kill him in revenge? That is what you are hinting at, hmm?”

“I am not hinting at that,” Vector shrugged. “Just because you climbed out of my brain, it doesn’t mean you gotta do what I would do. Besides, Jin would probably murder us both if we were to do that. But if you want to, maybe we can figure something out.”

“...wow. Wow, you are really advocating murder.”

“I’m not! I’m not advocating. I am being an upstanding citizen,” Vector grinned. “I just said the possibilities ahead of you.”

“...anyways, there are some tempting parts of that, but… no. I… I want Lightning back, and give him a piece of my mind, but I want to figure out a way to work together.”

“Do you think that is possible?” Revolver’s voice was sharp as he interrupted them again.

Honestly, Vector almost forgot he was still there, he got so involved in thinking up the options.

“In my experience,” Vector shrugged before continuing. “A lot of things can be possible even if they were thought impossible.”

“Like someone being not human and still being alongside humans?”

Vector tilted his head, and Revolver pushed himself away from the desk.

“Once we infected your Ignis with a virus - and we wrote it in a way which should have killed him. And while it severely injured him, it did not kill him. And I saw your duel, and saw that duelist calling you a Barian. So I did some research about what happened in Heartland City exactly.”

Vector laughed out loud, throwing his head back.

“Liked what you saw?”

Revolver did not reply, his ice blue eyes fixed on Vector’s face, and Windy just started to hum.

“Does it make me the most unique Ignis? Born from not a human but a Barian? I have been thinking about that.”

“The beginning of the Incident was Rei Shingetsu,” Vector shrugged. “And when his heart stopped, that’s when I entered the scene, albeit without my memories. So you are both mine and Rei’s. And I am all that remains of Rei. ‘Cause he died. Did you know that, Revolver?”

Revolver was silent for a few moments, before shaking his head.

“No. I do vaguely remember… there being chaos about one of the kids, but my father sent me away, and then later only told me everything was fine.”

“Wow. You were that close to the Incident? Why would your father take you there? Okay, nevermind, stupid question. I knew a guy who used his son as a living weapon against another world and his other son as an assassin. And another guy who used three of his sons as assassins. Compared to that, I guess, being witness to some child torture is… nah. Still bad. You all should open a daddy issues club.”

Revolver looked like Vector was trying his patience (which was to be fair an expression Vector was very familiar with), but after all of that, there weren’t many other things to say.

So soon, Vector was walking away from the yacht, back to the city centre, thinking about how to talk to Jin about all of it - and Windy inside the duel disk in his hand.

He will have to modify his own if…

Well.

That will be another question.

“By the way, Revolver called the authorities.”

“Hm?”

He glanced down at Windy, who looked up at him with his single good eye.

“He wouldn’t tell you that because he thinks his guilt complexes are his defining trait, but most of the others do know it already. He called people about where you were. Basically he rescued you.”

“Huh.”

Vector thought back to to Revolver’s pale eyes, how he was burying obviously many things under the surface.

“That is good to know.”

But first. How to tell all of this to Jin.

~*~

Jin obviously took the news well.

As in, straight up threw one of the lamps at the wall, and Vector just raised his eyebrows.

“That was part of the room’s equipment.”

“I don’t care. When did they want to tell me?”

Vector shrugged.

“Don’t ask me, Revolver only just told me as well.”

Jin ran his fingers through his hair, obviously still frustrated - and inside the duel disk, Windy followed his movements with his eyes.

“Wow. You have issues.”

“I have a lot of them, thanks for noticing,” Jin said on a dry voice. “Join the club, Windy. We can get T-shirts made.”

“You would have to mass produce them,” Vector chuckled. “Even I know a bunch of people who would be in need of them.”

Jin’s eyes focused on Vector, and his gaze was burning, as if trying to read his mind.

“What do you think?”

“Me? Why would you ask me?”

“You just talked with Revolver, so I am asking you.”

Vector shrugged.

“You know my point of view.”

“No I don’t,” Jin snapped. “You are always shaking it off, shaking  _ everything  _ off. I want to know what you  _ really  _ think.”

Jin’s voice was sharp and angry, with a twinge of desperation hiding behind his barbed words, and Vector’s face became more serious.

“I think he might hold grudges for centuries if he is brought back and allowed to live. Grudges can last exceptionally long.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Yes.”

Jin’s voice was bitter, and he turned away, not facing Vector.

But when Vector spoke again, he was surprised at how his voice was almost gentle.

“But sometimes, even for deep-rooted grudges, all you need is a hand that doesn’t let you go. Sometimes that is enough.”

~*~

And Jin did not let Lightning go.

When he was facing Revolver, his hands were gripping the duel disk, and seemed prepared to jump forward to bite Revolver’s throat out if needed. As for Lightning, he was mostly quiet - his eyes fixed on Jin, with a bewildered expression on his face. Truth to be told, Vector found the feeling that was obvious on Lightning’s face extremely familiar.

“You were oddly quiet through all of this. That is very much not like you.”

They were already back in Vector’s rented room, the two duel disks on the table, quiet - the two Ignis probably wanted to sort things themselves out alone.

“Missing my voice much?”

“It’s weird. Which is odd seeing as you are already very weird. Stop being an even bigger weirdo.”

Vector laughed, before crossing the room, taking Jin’s face between his hands.

“Never gonna happen~.”

He said in a sing-song voice, before pressing his lips to Jin’s.

~*~

Shoichi Kusanagi was happy about precisely none of the developments. Which was extremely foreseeable.

“Duel me,” Jin said, his voice trembling with barely restrained desperation. “I’ll show you I can take care of myself. If you win, I will return Lightning to Revolver, and stay in the hot dog truck, and stay out of all of it. But if I win, you have to let me go.”

Shoichi agreed.

Jin duelled alone.

Vector was sitting on one of the balconies inside Link VRAINS, Windy and Lightning sitting on his shoulders. Lightning watching the duel intently, and Windy was mostly distracted by the wings of Vector’s avatar, poking at it.

“Wow. I think I prefer your wings in here. Especially as your wings come with your mouth missing in the human world.”

“You don’t have a mouth either, Windy.”

Now that made Windy rise out of his duel disk, big, monstrous form, long arms, leaning on Vector like a nuisance and grinned with his extremely sharp teeth.

“I can have a mouth!”

“So can I. In fact I have a mouth right now. It’s not exa--- did you just bite me?”

Windy chuckled, not moving his teeth from one of Vector’s wings.

“Dunno. Did I? You don’t even notice when someone bites you?”

“Can you two be quiet?” Lightning snapped, glaring at them. “I’m trying to watch the duel.”

“Aw. Didn’t expect Jin’s Ignis to have a stick up his ass, let me tell you,” Vector chuckled, and Lightning huffed.

“You two resemble each other the most. Probably because of your… unique situation. And I do not have a stick anywhere. But my own future hangs on this duel as well.”

“Jin will be fine,” Vector said, absentmindedly patting Windy on the head. “There is no way he will lose this one.”

And obviously he did not.

Vector was not surprised at all. This had been very important for Jin after all. More than anything else.

~*~

Vector actually enjoyed the way Jin’s fingers drew patterns on the freckles on his body. He just lay there, eyes close, enjoying the way Jin was tracing constellations on his skin.

“Do you think my brother let me win?”

Vector opened one of his eyes, looking up at Jin.

The faint scars from the electrocutions way back then did indeed run down on his skin, spreading everywhere like a lightning on the sky.

Sometimes he wondered what went that wrong with Jin that his scars were that obvious even that much later. Vector himself only had some, way fainter ones.

He did not ask, though.

“Don’t know. You know your brother more than I do.”

“I thought there is no way he would. That he is way too overprotective. But now I’m… not sure.”

“Siblings are odd. Never had any but that is what I see everywhere. They do the weirdest shit for each other.”

Jin snorted.

“Thank you for your input.”

“Maybe even if he let you win, he decided that it was time to let you go. Or maybe you just sincerely kicked his ass. Either way you get to do what you want, so does it really matter?”

There was silence for a bit, before Jin leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Vector’s collarbone.

“And what are you gonna do, Vector?”

“Hm? I think I’m gonna go to Heartland City soon. At least for a bit. I probably gonna need my own Duel Disk modified so Windy can fit in. Then we will need to deal with that guy I duelled and whoever sent him.”

“Nice. I’m going with you.”

Now that made Vector raise his head in confusion, and Jin smirked.

“Oh come on. You gotta have some wild backstory, and there is a chance some of them can make you squirm. And I want to see it.”

“It’s more likely that I make them squirm, but go off.”

“What about the one who did not let go of your hand?”

Vector’s expression fell, and Jin laughed, leaning forward, pressing a kiss to his nose.

“There you have it. I want to meet that person.”

Oh, joy.

~*~

Den City and Heartland City were both always on the move, but somehow they had a different feel to it - Vector couldn’t put his finger on the difference, but something was tangible. Maybe Heartland City was more chaotic - but then again Den City’s chaos mostly settled inside Link VRAINS which was still not yet that popular in Heartland City.

“Shingetsu! Shingetsu!”

Of course it was Yuma who took a running start and basically jumped down multiple flights of stairs to catch up to Vector, with a bright smile on his face.

“You are back! Why didn’t you say you will be back? And you brought a friend? Hi, I’m Yuma Tsukumo.”

“Pleasure,” Jin put on his tried and trusted customer service-smile. “I’m Jin Kusanagi.”

“Did you find what you went to look for, Shingetsu?”

“Yeah, I think I did,” Vector said, turning back to his slightly open backpack. “You can come out to say hi, you know.”

He didn’t have to tell that to Windy twice - he pushed himself out from the duel disk in his monstrous form, and rested his head on Vector’s head with a shit-eating grin.

“Hi! I’m Windy. You are Yuma, I heard that! I’m the one who climbed out of Vector’s brain here. You might have heard some things about me and some murder attempts but let me assure you - I wasn’t myself.”

“I don’t think anyone would hold a judge against you wanting to kill Vector,” A new voice spoke up and surprise - it was Nasch who walked down the stairs as well, hands in pockets, frowning at all of them. “Most of us had tried one way or another.”

“Some of us had succeeded even, riiiiight?” Vector grinned, and Nasch just frowned even more.

“You tried to kill me first. Through multiple timelines.”

“You were being annoying.”

“You little---”

“Windy…” Yuma muttered, his eyes opened wide at the monster, and he reached out, grabbing one of his hands and shaking it. “Nice to meet you Windy! Are you gonna be his partner now? I have a partner too. Well…” He hesitated a bit. “He isn’t in this world now. But he will always be my partner. I’m sure you two will have a lot of fun!”

Of course Yuma was enthusiastic about it - and there were even tears in his eyes, and Vector chuckled a bit.

“Come on, Yuma. I know you missed little old me, but you don’t need to cry.”

“I am not crying!”

“You totally are,” Nasch sighed, and Yuma shook his head vehemently.

“No I am not!”

While Yuma was flailing around, Jin looked back and forth between Yuma and Vector before smirking.

“The one who didn’t let go of you, huh?”

Vector whipped his head around to glare at Jin - which would have been probably more effective if Windy wouldn’t had been resting on his head still happily, but he glared nevertheless.

“Shut your mouth.”

And Jin laughed, and Vector regretted bringing him along.

~*~

“What kind of partner does that Yuma kid have?”

Vector was sitting on the roof of a smaller building, watching the chaos unfold, because Yuma decided to challenge Jin for a duel, and Jin was never one to back down, and their duel slowly attracted more and more people - especially as Lightning also was present and obviously getting more and more into this duelling-as-partners thing.

Vector’s own duel disk was with Kaito and the Arclights now, who were working on updating it, to be able to hold Windy in it. So that was… good.

Apparently this was a thing now.

Windy was going to be his partner officially now.

Being next to Windy was… oddly calming. The Ignis really never shut his mouth, and he was constantly running a commentary about the current duel as well, but… here he was, suddenly asking the question.

“His name is Astral,” Vector said simply. “In some way, Yuma is a part of Astral as well. It’s… complicated, but he is a being from the Astral World.”

“Wow. Astral from the Astral World. How creative.”

“You tell me. When he was created they clearly weren’t very creative about it.”

“So where is he now?”

“Went back to the Astral World,” Vector replied. “His mission was over so he went back.”

“Huh. He didn’t like being Yuma partner then, I guess.”

“No, he did. Their bond was… I did not see anything like that before, until… Anyways, it was just time for him to go. But Yuma is sure they will meet again, and maybe it is not just his optimism speaking. They are two halves of the same whole, after all.”

“Huh. I heard that  _ until,  _ by the way. You were about to bring up me, weren’t you?”

Vector snorted.

“We hadn’t been together for that long, Windy.”

“And yet, you did not need any convincing this time to accept the idea of me partnering up with you. You totally have a soft spot for me.”

“Now you are just jumping to conclusions,” Vector rolled his eyes. “It was just annoying, feeling like a part of me had died. So I have to keep an eye on you to make sure it does not happen again, is all.”

“Huh-huh. Suuuuure. Keep telling yourself that. I know what I know!”

Vector leaned forward, pressing his lips to the top of Windy’s head.

“And what do you know, pray tell me?”

Windy shot out of the old duel disk again into his monstrous form, wrapping his arms around Vector, pressing his own mouth to Vector’s lips, and he felt the sharp teeth and found that he really, really did not mind.

~*~

“So. Almost everyone here looks at you like you would kill them any moment and would prefer to end you before you would.”

“Probably because that is on their mind, yes.”

“Yet, they don’t.”

“Yet they don’t.”

Vector found it that he very much liked Jin’s attention to himself - which was kind of harder to get these days, with Lightning also being in the picture, but when the two Ignis were off in the virtual world, Vector could freely hog Jin’s lap all for himself. Resting his head on his knees, he just allowed Jin to play with his hair.

“Because of Yuma?”

“Because of Yuma.”

Jin hummed a little.

“One day you will have to tell me that entire story.”

Vector snorted.

“Yeah, sure. Maybe.”

“What? You scared I would leave you for dead if you would tell me?”

Jin’s voice was mocking, and Vector just looked up at him.

“If you do, you do.”

“Remember who my partner is.”

“Who’s to say I’m not worse than him?”

“Oh?” Jin raised an eyebrow. “Now I  _ really  _ want to know.”

Vector smirked, pushing himself up, to look into Jin’s eyes up close.

“Careful. In the end I will believe that you are into both Lightning and me because of our world-destroying pasts.”

“Who’s to say I’m not?”

Jin smirked and Vector also grinned.

“Not denying the Lightning part either, I see.”

“Would you deny if I would ask you about Windy?”

“Nah.”

“There you go.”

Kissing Jin at this point was very familiar, but not at all dull - Jin would never let anything become monotonous, that one was for sure.

They still weren’t out of the hot water yet - the other Lost Incident victims and their Ignis will definitely return to the stage of destiny one day. Not to mention that guy who attacked them in VRAINS, and knew about the Barians as well.

Something was brewing beneath the surface, and Vector knew he will inevitably get caught up with it.

He really couldn’t wait.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
